Featherstone Young complete Ty-Hedfan, a new house in Brecon Beacons, Wales

Ty-Hedfan is a new house perched above a river in a small village at the top of a valley, five miles from Brecon and the beautiful Brecon Beacons National Park. The site is quite unique, sloping down to the confluence of two rivers, Ysgir Fach and Ysgir Fawr, that run across the length of the property.

Ty- Hedfan, meaning ʻhovering houseʼ takes full advantage of this river side location. Because of a statutory 6m no-build zone along the river bank, it cantilevers the main living areas up to the river bank and elevates them amongst the trees.

The house is a further exploration of the practiceʼs interest in highly site specific and contextual architecture, taking its cue from the traditional Welsh long house form, using local materials such as slate and stone and by fully utilizing the topography of the site to create a striking and unique form.

The house totals 2400sqft (223sqm) of internal living space which is split into two quite differently constructed wings:

The main house wing has the cantilevered living room and a double height kitchen and dining spaces that open onto an elevated courtyard overlooking the garden, river and countryside. The upper floor of this wing, partially within the roofspace, contains 2 bedrooms and bathrooms.

The second wing is perpendicular to the first and partially buried into the sloping ground. It has a gently sloping green sedum roof that appears to be an extension of the garden behind.

This wing comprises two guest bedrooms and a study room with bed mezzanine, all with full height windows and doors opening up onto a riverside deck. Punctuating the green roof are irregular shaped rooflights bringing ample daylight into this semi sunken area.

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The main wing construction is a hybrid timber and steel frame structure clad with traditional slate and locally sourced stone. Large timber framed windows on the south and southwest elevations maximize the thermal benefits from solar gain. Insulated thermal mass is added through the two large stone walls wrapping the main house and forming the entrance hall and interface with the lower guest wing. The guest wingʼs concrete retaining walls and green sedum roof add further thermal mass whilst solar panels and an air source heat pump ensure the house is energy efficient.

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Local contractors Osborne Builders of Builth Wells built Ty-Hedfan and is a family run business employing skilled carpenters and stone masons. Four men single handedly were able to build the house from beginning to end crossing all trades from the heavy concrete and timber structure through to the fine finishing of joinery and mosaic tiling.

Just to be a shade pedantic, I can understand why they've said that Ty Hedfan – means “hovering house” but it should be Ty Hofren as I would say that Ty Hedfan meant “Flying house” but Ty Hedfan is far more romantic and I can't disagree with its beauty.